HMB tourney

  Planned to win the thing with a BIG Stripper...but my easy patch-job on the Oil Pan did not work out!So I spent the week end pulling the thing out instead of joining in to make the count 51 yakers.Sorry to have missed out!!!!

1st Time on the Big Blue. I met Tim (surfer/perception guy) in the parking lot, and we were the last ones in. Tim was very familiar with the surf and the area and was good enough to take me under his wing....Strait to Mavericks... .  Half way though he then asked if I would like to watch him surf some waves . Turned out to be just fine and Tim is a very personable guy (as everyone else there). Made it to the "EEL Man"s" secret spot and picked up a small rockfish(released) and Tim Picked up a 22/24" ling and 3/4 rockfish(released). Started to become difficult to keep down my breakfast, nausea,coughing,yawning and my "up to the neck Wetsuit" was not helping the sweat machine. Tim was quick to notice I was having trouble and he began to discribe in detail all the signs/symptoms of pucking as well as ways of doing so. It was great! REALLY..I even @ one point became snaged and was caught "weird" by a wave knocking me and my Hobie on it's side. I was either going over with a total capsize or I could jump out and leave the boat righted, I did the lader, everything worked out fine. Tim asked why I wanted to be Shark bait. Thank you Tim for taking me out there, I never would have done that on my. You helped me conquer some fears I had about Kayaking in the ocean, sorry about the writer's embellishment though, Thanks again Tim. Just to let people know, I stopped by the HMB fire dept to talk to "old friends" and learned that a boat with 4 people capsizes, all 4 were saved with no injuries, - the boat.
Thanks also to Bill and Chuck and every one else who made the event so great. I really love this sport and it was great to be with people who feel the same way as I do. I really feel that NCKA will become a force to be reckoned with and looked forward to the future. On that note, I just recently took on a 2nd job @ West Marine, I am working with a friend of mine (kind of high up the food chain) in getting West Marine up to speed with Kayak fishing and promoting the sport. I am pushing NCKA @ every opportunity and they  ARE  interested in us. I expect as this thing picks up they will become more involed....DANGLIN

Many thanks to:

- ALL the sponsors that donated prizes 
- Chuck and Bill for the "Organizing Efforts" 
- Chuck, Brian G and Alex / Aliens for grill duties 
- CCK and HMB Yacht Club for housing the event 

 = and especially to the 50 kayak fishermen who challenged and braved the HMB conditions!

Congrats to Javier for caching the $1000.00 Cabezon  (most expensive fish to date)

more pics to follow.....

Congrats to Javier on his winning cab and also to Ben and Scott for rounding out the top 3. Fishing conditions were brutal out there. Big ups to all you first timers out there for your courage. A lot of bad things could've went very wrong. I'm glad that everybody had a great time. Thank you Bill for getting this together and to Chuck for all his work behind the sceens. With the turn out that we had, I only see bigger and better things for NCKA in the future. Yesterday was just awesome.

Stuie and I arrived a little before 6am. There were already a bunch of guys on the beach ready to go. We checked out the north end and paddled for it. Once there, the "White Hand of Death" was everywhere. Stuart askes if we can do it. I reply, "We got to thread the needle." He says, "You better thread it real good then..." Next thing you know... we're off paddling for our lives. A couple of minutes later as I'm approaching the first of many really, really big waves... I hear Stuie yelling... "I'm going around!!!" I thought to myself... $hit! But, I was already committed and had no choice but to go for it. I wanted to take some pictures of the insanity but, I didn't want to stop paddling fearing that I would get crushed. Going through, I kept my eye on the FF to see where the reef was coming up... I avoided places like that. It was pretty wild. I got really wet but had a fun ride. On the fishing front... it was pretty slow and go all day. I managed to produce a nice stringer of mostly blacks, a cab and a small ling. I released a bunch of smallies and two underlings. As hard as good structure was to come by out there... I still managed to donated two jigs to the ocean. I guess that's pretty par for the course for me though. The rig I used is pretty common... I had a hoochie teaser over either a diamond jig or a fishtrap. I caught fish on everything I threw down... just not anything big. All in all... another great day.

I think my body went into shock with the cold norcal waters... I got too used to the 80+ degree waters of the East Cape.

Freddie

I think my body went into shock with the cold norcal waters... I got too used to the 80+ degree waters of the East Cape.

Freddie, does this mean you might start wearing a full wetsuit?

It was great for me especially because of the large turnout, meeting everyone and newbies like me feeling welcomed, so anything that keeps that going (keeping the ante lower) I think is great too.  Looking forward to seeing that cool review of the derby in WON!

Freddie is right... I think the day was even sloppier than could be captured in photos - swells seemed 6-8 feet easily, and came in quick sets now and then.  And beyond that, we were a good 50 yds outside Maverick and I was still nudged by some big white caps - fun times!  Well, at least in my scupper pro.  whew.

Nice post and congrats on the cab, Javier!  It was cool meeting you.  
Ben and Scott great job - I think I have good karma now 'cause you two were the first people I kayak fished with ever!

And Chuck and Bill thanks for the hard work and making it happen seamlessly, raffle, sponsors and all.  That's almost like whole day jobs i bet.   And thanks also Bill for the props for me paying after the event... Speaking even more of good karma, Tote thanks for the RoRows!  It's in the mail.  You and your son are super nice.

Where can I get an NCKA sticker?  I wanna buy one of those NCKA t-shirts also if i can.

Where can I get an NCKA sticker?  I wanna buy one of those NCKA t-shirts also if i can.

Just go to the home page - under NCKA store

http://www.cafepress.com/ncka


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On another note: LOST AND FOUND at the HMB Derby:

one large dry bag
one small right foot - neoprene boot
one left foot NIKE sandal
one wallet - returned to rightful owner

That was a great tourney.  Thanks Chuck and Bill for all your hard work, putting it all together.  Congrats to Javier, Ben, Scott and the rest of the contenders.

Here's my version of the day:

After a brief 6 am social on at the Yacht Club, Fred, the Chef and I paddled out together and beached our yaks at the very northwest end of the harbor.  We walked over to the beach peeked out to what appeared as calm conditions, however it was masked by a layer of fog.  We contemplated humping our yaks over and re launching, but figured it would be a short paddle around with the same or less effort.

We re-launched and paddled toward the entrance.  Just short, Fred and I stopped to rig our lines, while the Chef kept going.  A group of kayaker's were hot on the Chef's trail, as he blazed through the reef.  A few minutes later, we rounded the jaws and hugged the jetty, as we targeted the area below the radar tower.  From the beach, we did not see any of these breakers, that we were going to soon encounter.

Fred & I stopped for a moment, and had the "Thread the needle" / "Gonna be a yard Sale" conversation, then he paddled like a mad man.  I was right behind him, when I realized we were in a maze of boilers.  I was struck by FEAR as thoughts of a cold swim and lost gear ran through my mind.  I stopped, quickly radioed that I'm going around and paddled HARD.  Fred kept paddling.  Did he hear me?  I hope he did and assumed there was no way he was going to stop and pick up his radio, which turned out to be the case.

I think it was Action (Jack?) next to me, who had never been in the ocean.  Well, that ride was quite an introduction.  InSeine (Jim) and his newbie buddy also opted for the more conservative/safe route.

In retrospect, the chances of getting rolled were probably higher going back in and getting hit from behind, rather than taking a wave straight on.  However, when the adrenaline fades and fear strikes, the methodical/analylitical thought process, goes by the wayside.  Besides, I saw too much white water in front/right/left, to keep paddling ahead.

We headed towards the green can and I kept going to fish a few pinnacles by the red buoy.  I wasted a lot of time there without a bite.  The structure seemed ok, but was void of life.  I then paddled to the green can area and fished there, releasing a few small RF.

On the way in, I met up with Allen B and the Fred at the jaws, where I saw his Savage stringer.  Nice job Mr. Savage!   Unfortunately, its better to be lucky than good!

Now, where's the report of this brand new kayak that Sank?  If that happened out on the reef, it could have been tragic.  I'm very curious about the specifics.  What brand, etc......

Bsteves-

Wearing a full on wetsuit... might still be far fetched.

Freddie

I'd like to know what Javier will do with the prize money....besides go to Disney Land 

It was a great event and always nice to have company in the dangerous ocean, fishing the reefs.  To bad, I could not stay for the BBQ due to HoneyDo tasks and the fact I dreaded the thought of the traffic on Hwy92 in the afternoon.  There is only one thing I hate worse than work and its traffic.  Got to meet some of the guys and met several on the water.  It was my second time in the ocean on a kayak and I paddled out by myself towards the buoy.  I have fished HMB many times but NEVER in the reefs.  I always went around the buoys and now I know why.

After watching a couple of kayaks fishing behind the breakers off the reef near the buoy, I thought I was in the company of adventure seekers.  There were several reefs that came up to less than 10 feet and they scared the life out of me.  I noticed the depth changing on my sonar and suddenly I hear the surf break about 10 feet from me.  I quickly grabbed my paddle and got the hell out.  I pushed the mark on my GPS to make sure I knew where they were but there were at least two that came up pretty high and did not break until a big swell swept over them.  I managed to hook and release 2 lingcod’s and one was around the 24 legal limit but my memory of last years prize drove me to bigger goals.  The fishing was slow and there were only a few lings in the area.  I used a large scampi and a treble hook with complete squid for bait, yes I was meat hooking for the big one.  I tried the small gear with flies, iron, swim bait but did not get the results I was looking for and besides squid is the candy of the ocean and almost every fish out there eats it. 

The Yacht Club was hard to find and I think a map might help in the future for those who have never been there.  Thanks to all who coordinated and hope to see more of you in the water.

Luis

I used a large scampi and 3 large hooks with complete squid for bait, yes I was meat hooking for the big one.

Did you mean you were using a big treble hook on that squid, becuase three hooks is a big no-no for rockfish.

28.55. Rockfish (Sebastes)
...
(d) Method of take: Not more than two hooks and one line. For purposes of this section,
a hook is a single hook, or a double or treble hook with multiple points connected to a
common shank.
...

Thanks again to the sponsors for a great time and a great raffle. Sponsors include:

California Canoe and Kayak
Okuma
Hook1 Kayak Fishing
Hobie
Outdoor Pro Shops
Holt of California (The cat hats!)
Norton Brass Rattler (fish grip people)

Sounds like a fun time was had by all who participated.  I hope to make it to one of these at some point.

Oh and I forgot to thank everyone that brought food to the potluck. There was some great stuff there, Freddies Jambalya was very good!